IRISH NOMINEES feature highly in the shortlists for this year’s Golden Globe awards, which were announced in New York today.
Michael Fassbender and Brendan Gleeson are both nominated for some of the most coveted awards at this year’s ceremony, which will be hosted by Ricky Gervais on January 15.
Fassbender is nominated for Best Actor in a Drama for his starring role in Steve McQueen’s erotic drama Shame, while Gleeson is in the running for the Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical category for his role in John Michael McDonagh’s The Guard.
Fassbender will be up against some of Hollywood’s biggest names in his category: other nominees in the Drama category include George Clooney (The Descendents), Brad Pitt (Moneyball), Leonardo DiCaprio (J Edgar) and Ryan Gosling (The Ides of March).
Gosling also features in Gleeson’s Comedy or Musical category, nominated for his role in Crazy, Stupid, Love alongside Owen Wilson (Midnight in Paris), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (50/50) and Jean Dujardin (The Artist).
Other Irish nominees include composer Brian Byrne, whose song ‘Lay Your Head Down’ – co-written with Glenn Close, and featuring in Albert Nobbs – is nominated in the Best Original Song – Motion Picture category.
Both Albert Nobbs and The Guard had Irish production companies on board and were given funding by the Irish Film Board.
The Artist leads the nominations, with six nominations, ahead of The Descendants and The Help with five each. Albert Nobbs, produced by Irish company Parallel Films, features in three categories – it was filmed in Dublin earlier this year.
George Clooney features regularly on the nominees list – his film The Ides of March, for which Gosling is nominated in the Drama category, is nominated for Best Motion Picture, as are Moneyball, The Help, The Descendants, Hugo and War Horse.
Clooney is also up for Best Director, as are Martin Scorcese (Hugo), Alexander Payne (The Descendants), Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris) and Michael Hazavicius (The Artist).
The nominees for the best comedy or musical picture include 50/50, The Artist, Bridesmaids, Carnage, Midnight in Paris and My Weekend with Marilyn.
British actress Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk about Kevin) is nominated in the Best Actress in a Drama, where she will compete alongside Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs), Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady), Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and Viola Davis (The Help).
In the parallel category for comedies and musicals, nominees include Kate Winslet, for her role in Carnage, Michelle Williams for My Week with Marilyn, Kristen Wiig for Bridesmaids, Charlize Theron (Young Adult) and Jodie Foster (Carnage).
In the TV categories, the Irish-filmed ‘Game of Thrones’ is nominated for Best Drama series, alongside ‘American Horror Story’, ‘Boardwalk Empire’, ‘Boss’ and ‘Homeland’. Game of Thrones was filmed in Northern Ireland and all its post-production was carried out by Screen Scene in Ireland.
Nominees for best actor include Steve Buscemi, Bryan Cranston, Kelsey Grammer, Jeremy Irons and Damian Lewis; the nominees for best actress include Claire Danes, Mireille Enos, Julianna Margulies, Madeline Stowe and Callie Thorne.
Among the nominees for best comedy or musical TV series are ‘Enlightened, ‘Episodes’, ‘Glee’, ‘Modern Family’ and ‘New Girl’; best actor nominees include Alec Baldwin, David Duchovny, Johnny Galecki, Thomas Jane and Matt LeBlanc.
The star-studded list of nominees for best actress in such a series includes Laura Dern, Zooey Deschanel, Tina Fey, Laura Linney and Amy Poehler.
James Hickey, CEO of the Irish Film Board, congratulated the nominees and said:
This is great international recognition for Irish creative talent working in the film industry. We are delighted to see the wide range of nominations which showcase Ireland on the international stage, underlining Ireland’s reputation as a cultural hub. Funding from Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board is key for projects such as The Guard and Albert Nobbs to be produced in Ireland, creating opportunities for Irish talent to work on these projects.
